I am a rookie preacher, just a few years on from my first-ever sermon, which was given with knees knocking, hands gripping notes and spit showering the microphone with alarming regularity. I’m not sure it’s improved much since to be honest. Of course we are all rookies to some extent; learning is a lifelong project. But here are some thoughts, dare I suggest, even advice, from the journey I’ve been on, learning to preach from the very beginning.
LEARNING TO SPEAK
Since perhaps the dawning of time (let’s not get too theological on that) the sermon has been the butt of many a joke, viewed as an occasion where people either sleep or ponder whether they remembered to feed next door’s cat. So the first challenge is how to get past that attitude.
Technically, things like not rustling your notes (annoying) and learning to use the microphone (or face the wrath of the sound desk person) are skills that can be learned, but speaking with confidence, passion and accessibility takes a bit more time. One tip I was given was to use personal stories to illustrate points. It helps you feel more confident, but more than that it’s often the stories from everyday life that illustrate the gospel in a way that is real and honest. Of course you can go too
